Category Archives: Random Thoughts

Last weekend, I did an impromptu bookstore hop. I’ve been meaning to visit Littered With Books ever since I saw pictures of it pop up on my Instagram explore page. I finally got to do so last Saturday.

Here are pictures of Littered With Books, located in the Tanjong Pagar area:

I bought one of these canvas bags from the store, which brings my bookish tote bag collection to a grand total of two.

Pansing, one of Singapore’s major book distributors, is hosting a warehouse sale in August! I’ve mentioned before that books are expensive in Singapore so it’s always a good idea to take advantage of sales and discounts whenever possible. I need to see what my weekends will look like in August because I want to drop by this sale. If you’re a reader based in Singapore then I definitely recommending checking out the details below to see if this is something that will interest you. They have some pretty good deals for this warehouse sale.

More information:
– SG50 Box Sale – only at S$50, in line with SG50 celebrations (it was going for S$100 at the sale in April)
– Free Book for Seniors – aged 50 years old and above, limited to ONE book of your choice per person, proof of identity/age is required.
– Prices for single titles as low as 50 cents
– Good range at great value
– Over 10,000 titles available at the sale
– Get updates via http://www.facebook.com/sgbookdeals

One of my favorite contemporary romance authors is Laura Florand. Her next release will be the second installment in the La vie en Roses series and will be called A Wish Upon Jasmine. Her post about the cover, premise and first chapter excerpt can be found here. I’ve read the excerpt and it’s so good! I think I now have an idea of what the fairytale inspiration will be in this book. :) Nice play on the character’s name if I’m right.

I loved Once Upon a Rose and it’s one of my favorite reads this year so I’m pretty excited that we’re getting another Provence book soon. I thought we’d have to wait until next year!

Ruthless.
That was what they said about Damien Rosier. Handsome. Wealthy. Powerful. Merciless. No one messed with his family, because to do so they would have to get through him. No one thought he had a heart. Not even the woman he gave his to.

Cynical.
That was what they said about Jasmin Bianchi. A top perfumer of her generation, Jess had achieved commercial success by growing a protective shell over a tender heart. The one time she cracked it open to let Damien in, he crushed it—after a night of unbelievable passion.

Lovers.
That one magical night couldn’t survive the harsh light of dawn. When Jess woke up to discover the man in bed beside her had stolen her company, she fled.

Enemies.
Now she’s come to the south of France with a threat to his family heritage. If he wants to reclaim both it and the woman who walked away from him, he’s going to have to fight as dirty as only Damien can.

But Jess knows how to fight dirty, too. And these days, she has nothing left to lose.

Certainly not her heart.

____________________________

Doesn’t that look interesting? On her Facebook page, Laura posted cover ideas before finally settling on this particular cover design. I think it’s looks good because it matches the cover of Once Upon a Rose. I also like how the titles focus on a specific flower – rose and jasmine. Maybe the next ones will be something about lavender or lily of the valley or violet. Or mimosa! I had a Fragonard perfume that was mimosa scented. I guess we just have to wait and see. :)

July 20 – 25: Wish List
What Filipino children or young adult book would you want to be published? (It can be a topic, type of book or a specific author or illustrator. Feel free to list more than one.)

Over the years, I’ve browsed the kiddie section of Manila bookstores to buy children’s books written by Filipino authors for my godsons. I’ve noticed that there’s a pretty good selection of titles that are available nowadays, a lot more than what was published when I was a kid. I love the ones where the stories are written in both Filipino and English because I can give those as gifts even to non-Filipino friends. So I think when it comes to children’s books, there’s a good slate out there.

When it comes to Filipino middle grade and young adult fiction, I think there’s a HUGE gap. I’ve scoured bookstores to look for MG or YA titles that I can read and frankly, there doesn’t seem to be that many that have been published. So my wish is simple: I want to read more Filipino MG or YA titles across different genres. Contemporary, epic fantasy, urban fantasy, romance, historical, etc. Series or standalones. I’m not picky. As long as it’s a well-written novel, I’ll read it. It would be great if the Filipino MG and YA scene would become as developed as the Australian YA market, where there are now so many amazing titles being published. Some of which are released first in Australia and later published in the US or UK.

Also, another wish of mine would be that these titles be available in ebook format. Since I’m based in Singapore, I only get to buy physical copies of Filipino books whenever I travel home and that doesn’t happen as often as I would like.

What about you, what are Filipino children, MG or YA books that you would like to be published? Do you have any recommendations written by Filipino authors?

After being wowed by Cesky Krumlov in Czech Republic, we decided to visit a medieval city in Germany too. We checked travel forums and asked German friends and Regensburg kept being recommended as a nice place to visit. Other cities that we would have loved to visit were Rothenburg and Nuremberg but they’re farther away from Munich and we didn’t want to waste too much time on train travel. About an hour and a half away from Munich, Regensburg is a charming city by the Danube river with a rich history – first capital of Bavaria, previous center of the Holy Roman Empire, the residence of the Thurn and Taxis nobility and now a UNESCO World Heritage site.

We started with lunch at a cafe across the church:

Here’s the view of the city from the bridge tower:

This 12th century Stone Bridge was one of the first built-in Europe. I read somewhere that it helped inspire the Charles Bridge in Prague. It’s currently under construction so I couldn’t get a good shot:

The Porta Praetoria was the gate to the Roman camp Castra Regina from 179 AD. It’s amazing that a structure that old has been maintained and incorporated into the city’s architecture:

Goliathhaus is a 13th century patrician residence with a mural of David and Goliath:

The Schloss Thurn and Taxis is within the grounds of St. Emmeram. It’s a 19th century neo-Renaissance palace built from a monastery. The Thurn and Taxis family built a postal system in Europe in the 15th century. No pictures were allowed inside Schloss Thurn and Taxis so I only have a courtyard picture and a paparazzi shot of the floor of the winter garden:

Back in 2010, I got my first ever Kindle. It was a Kindle Keyboard. It died two years later and I got a Kindle Touch to replace it. I thought my second Kindle will last only two years but surprisingly, I’ve had it for almost three years and it’s still doing fine. In that span of time, it’s traveled with me from the Philippines to Singapore. And also to the US and Europe when I’ve gone there for vacations. It’s been a steady companion but I’ve been tempted to get the Kindle Paperwhite ever since it was released. I just felt like having a built-in light on my Kindle would make it easier for me to read. I would be able to read wherever I wanted without worrying about how good the light is. When the Kindle Voyage came out, I couldn’t decide whether I should get that or the Paperwhite. It’s taken me months to finally make a decision! The Paperwhite won when Amazon released a new version towards the end of June, which has an increased resolution.

The arrival of a package containing these brightened up my Monday:

2015 Kindle Paperwhite and navy blue leather cover

Real life has been keeping me busy so unfortunately, I haven’t had a chance to dive in and play around with my new toy. But I’m planning to read this as soon as I can:

Roasted hazelnut mocha, banana chocolate bread and an ARC of The Harder We Fall by Mina V. Esguerra

I’m doing my best to buy and read more ebooks because it’s just more practical to do so. Since I’m working in Singapore and I keep moving around because I don’t have a permanent residence here. Also, most of the review copies that I receive are ebooks because I live all the way over in Southeast Asia. So the Kindle Paperwhite is totally a valid purchase for me, right? LOL. Hopefully this new Kindle will last several years too.

What about the rest of you, do you have Kindles or any other kind of ereader? Care to share what your digital reading experience has been like?

It’s been more than a month since I came back from Europe and I’m still not done with my travel updates here on the blog. I’ve even gone back home to Manila since then. I’ve been distracted by real life, reading and writing book-related posts (which is what this blog is actually about LOL). As promised, here’s an update on Neuschwanstein Castle, one of the sites we visited that I LOVED.

Neuschwanstein Castle is probably one of the most famous castles in Europe. It was the inspiration for Disney’s iconic Sleeping Beauty castle. It’s located above the village of Hohenschwangau, which is 2 hours away by train from Munich. I really, really wanted to see Neuschwanstein which was why I chose Munich as the exit point (with Prague as the entry point) when I was booking tickets for Europe. Check out the pictures and let me know if you agree with me that Neuschwanstein Castle is worth a visit.

View of the town of Hohenschwangau and Alpsee, the lake nearby:

Some shots of the front of the castle:

And the back of the castle:

We joined a tour of the castle interiors but pictures weren’t allowed inside, which is too bad because the rooms we saw were all beautiful. Not surprisng since King Ludwig II intent was to make the castle his refuge from court life. There is a magnificent view of the castle from a bridge called Marienbrücke:

From this area, there is a view that shows Hohenschangau Castle, where King Ludwig II grew up. Unfortunately, we didn’t get a chance to explore this yellow castle.

I’m so glad I got to see Neuschwanstein Castle in person, and in such gorgeous weather too. It’s really the stuff fairytales are made of.

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Hello!

Welcome to Chachic's Book Nook! I'm a Filipino book blogger currently based in Singapore. My blog features all sorts of books that I read from various genres (fantasy, contemporary romance, young adult fiction). Click on About Me to learn more and check out my Favorite Books page for a list of books that I love. Thanks for dropping by!

Chachic /ˈtʃɑːtʃɪk/ is pronounced with hard “ch” sounds. The first syllable is pronounced like the dance cha-cha while the second syllable is like chick (baby chicken).

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